WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
INVESTORS IN MADOFF SCHEME SUE SEC
Two investors who lost more than $2.4m in the Bernard Madoff “Ponzi” scheme have filed suit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission, claiming that the government agency responsible for protecting investors was negligent in its oversight of Madoff’s operations.
CHINA AND KENYA IN KEY INFRASTRUCTURE TALKS
Kenya’s government is in talks with Beijing over development of a multi-billion dollar port and transport corridor that could provide a new export route for Chinese oil in southern Sudan. The cash-strapped Kenyan government opened negotiations with Qatar over a potential $3.5bn investment in the port project late last year in return for a lease on 40,000 hectares of land to grow crops.
PEPSI STRENGTHENS TIES WITH ANHEUSER
An unusual deal between PepsiCo and Anheuser-Busch, the US subsidiary of the world’s largest brewer, has highlighted a developing global alliance that could eventually threaten Coca-Cola’s position as the world’s largest beverage company by sales. PepsiCo and Anheuser said they had agreed to work together to cut costs by combining their purchasing of items such as office supplies and computers.
DONINGTON SWEETENS TERMS FOR GRAND PRIX FUNDS
The backers of Donington Park have had to sweeten the terms of a £145m ($232m) funding package it needs to stage next year’s British Grand Prix in an attempt to attract potential investors in the circuit. Citigroup, the bankers of the Leicestershire racetrack, yesterday launched a sale of £135m of bonds after sounding out investors.
THE TIMES
SWEDES PREPARE TO SNAP UP STAKE IN UK’S NEW NUCLEAR REACTORS
Sweden’s biggest energy company is eyeing a possible multibillion-pound investment in Britain’s nuclear power industry, The Times has learnt. Vattenfall, Europe’s fifth-largest electricity utility, is considering acquiring a stake in EDF’s project to construct four new reactors in the UK at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk.
INVESTOR ALARM AS FINANCE MINISTER BLASTS CORPORATE JAPAN’S ETHICS
In a declaration of policy that will dismay both domestic and foreign investors, Japan’s new Financial Services Minister yesterday reiterated his demand for a return to traditional business practices and insisted that “there will be no apeing of America” on his watch.
The Daily Telegraph
WALSH TAKES BA/AA TIE-UP CAMPAIGN TO US
Willie Walsh, the British Airways chief executive, has taken his campaign for a tie-up with American Airlines to Washington – a day after two influential senators demanded closer scrutiny of the deal. Walsh called not only for approval of the tie-up but for the US to liberalise its domestic market.
BAE WARNS OF US DEAL WRITEDOWN
BAE Systems faces a “significant” impairment charge after losing out on a lucrative contract to build armoured trucks for the US military.
The British defence company is protesting the decision to award the follow-on contract to a US rival, but said yesterday that if its appeal is unsuccessful it will take a hefty impairment charge against $3.8bn (£2.4bn).
WALL STREET JOURNAL
CALPERS PROBES FEES PAID TO ADVISER
Calpers, the nation’s largest public pension fund, is launching a “special review” of fees paid by some of its money managers to an investment advisory firm run by a former Calpers board member, the fund said.
REDSTONE TO SELL UP TO $947M OF CBS, VIACOM SHARES
Media mogul Sumner Redstone is selling some of his family’s controlling stake in Viacom and CBS. to meet a looming debt payment, after an auction of many of the family’s movie theaters failed to fetch the prices he had sought. Redstone’s family holding company, National Amusements, said yesterday that it plans to sell stock in CBS and Viacom valued at as much as $947m, or more than a third of the value of its combined stake in the two big media companies.